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"Giant Steps" in Jazz Evolution

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Amilisom View Drop Down
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    Posted: 20 Sep 2012 at 1:06pm
At the end of the last episode of the Ken Burns Jazz documentary (which was terribly vague compared to the rest of the documentary in which they tried to cram 30-40 years of history into one episode) they mention that no significant advancements have really been made in jazz to push jazz into a new era. They included that possibly some young musician may stand up and lead the genre forward into this new era some day with other musicians in their wake of influence.

Now, this documentary is around ten years old and I've really just started settling myself in listening to the greats of the 50's and 60's so my knowledge of modern jazz musicians is rather limited.

So the question is, do any of you know of a(ny) jazz musician(s) in the past ten years who have made significant contributions to the evolution of jazz? For example, if a historian 30 years from now were to study jazz history of the 2000s they would point to this person and say "They did it, jazz took a step forward in history because of them" like the way we look at Miles Davis in his influence on cool jazz and fusion.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote js Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Sep 2012 at 1:26pm
Yeah, I think some people have done some very interesting new things with jazz, but they are not always the famous ones.
Lately, two people have really stood out to me as doing very new things with jazz. One is Bob Brookmeyer and the other is Kenny Werner. These guys have been making jazz that combines modern composition with other available resources such as electronics and world music and whatever else is around, making music that is fresh and unheard before. Unfortunately these guys get less press than those whose innovations are more obvious or trendy.

There are others that I will think of later and post here. Overall, I think there lots of new interesting things going on, but these guys don't always get the big press.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote js Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Sep 2012 at 1:29pm
A good example of something new and non-trendy in jazz that will hold up over time is Kenny Werner's "Lawn Chair Society".
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote js Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Sep 2012 at 1:32pm
Another band that I have only heard some music by, but everything I hear impresses me is Microscopic Sextet. 
As much as I love checking out new jazz, my time is also taken by all the older jazz I am still discovering.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Amilisom Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Sep 2012 at 1:32pm
Yeah, I suppose it could be as a result of the direction society is going. For example, there are less "original" movies now than 10, 20, or 30 years ago. In order to get as much money as possible, movie makers go for what people are familiar with, sequels, superheroes, transformers, star trek, or book/play adaptations for example and the people being original don't get as much publicity. I tend to suspect the same thing is happening in music.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote js Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Sep 2012 at 1:42pm
Yeah, as the person who does a lot of the music research for this site, it literally breaks my heart to see how hard some of these guys have worked, and then they get passed by. Obviously I'm harping on Kenny Werner today, but I have been listening to album after album by this guy this morning and I am so impressed.
Some of his albums like the aforementioned "Lawn Chair Society" and "No Beginning No End" are some of the most powerful music today. which also reminds me of Matana Robert's "Coin Coin", a very powerful piece of modern music.

On an interesting side note, when you look at the lineage of jazz greats, Eric Dolphy was going to be the next, but his life was cut short, but it should have been:Hawkins, Parker, Coltrane and then Dolphy.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote js Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Sep 2012 at 2:38pm
I was thinking back to the late 80s when it looked like Henry Threadgill was going to lead the way to a new jazz that combined the past and the new. He released a series of albums that stood out from the fuzak, smooth jazz and traditionalists of the time, but then he seemed to fade from view after a while, I'm not sure why, my own interests at the time had switched to jazz being created by folks with samplers and turntables. A fun innovation in itself that hit a dead end after a while for most.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Abraxas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Sep 2012 at 2:47pm
For me, the band BadBadNotGood are offering something new. Clearly it's not the first time jazz mixes with hip hop, but these guys are doing it in another way, plus showcasing jazz improvisation to young audiences. They also have a strong electronic realiance, another feature of the 21st century.
They're not the most "rad" jazz band out there, after all they're just 21 years old the three of them, but I do think they're doing what Miles Davis has done, although he would have done in a very different manner, I guess.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Kazuhiro Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Sep 2012 at 7:43pm

I do not know all of jazz for the past 10 years. However, of course I always check information and a sample. For example, I do not know whether Nu Jazz is recognized as really next-generation jazz. Of course it is different from the mixture, but feels that in late years music in itself may be saturation to some extent.

It was existence of Bill Stewart to have felt me to be purely. As for him, all performances were innovative in jazz. I thought that there was not a next-generation drum hero about jazz anymore. However, Bill Stewart did it. Of course even in Brian Blade.

 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TheMilkman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Sep 2012 at 9:04pm
You struck gold here, because ive been thinking the same thing for a few days now. I really hope that some sort of group pushes the envelope in this way, i would love to see a rather large-scale revival of jazz inspired genres, that way our youth could pick it up and run with it in directions previous generations could not. no offence to any old timers haha.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote darkshade Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Sep 2012 at 5:39pm
I like Ken Burns "JAZZ" documentary except for that last episode. Besides the fact that they try to cram 40+ years of jazz history in one episode, the producers are very biased on their views of jazz, at least post-67 jazz. The documentary makes it seem like jazz died when Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington died.

Wynton Marsalis' opinions are a big part of it too. He talks about how jazz is supposed to be, talking about the swing era, bop, and so on, and how these musicians were taking jazz to the next level. Yet when you get to the last episode, he and most others in the program dismiss jazz fusion altogether, and don't even mention any fusion bands from the 70s and 80s, except Miles, but even his music from that period is downplayed as too "busy". Same thing with most of the avant-garde jazz that was going on in the 60s and 70s. Then he talks about these modern musicians, and while some are great and ARE pushing boundaries, like Christian McBride; most of the others he mentions (and even his own performance included) is very much recreating past glories, and just sounds like post-bop.

The documentary should have extended itself by a few episodes, and not been so biased against certain styles and musicians (honestly, they talk about Satchmo, Duke, Miles, Trane, Bird, and Dizzy the most throughout the series, great as those artists are of course).

Anyway, as far as jazz in the last 10 years or so, I mean, it's hard. There's a lot out there, it's hard to keep up. I guarantee no one on this site has anywhere near similar collections of jazz from 2000-2012. I know strides have been made in the world of jazz-rock/fusion (though even within that there are just recreating he past)--but as far as other styles, most of what I've heard has been done before, and all these musicians I hear are just playing post-bop, hard bop, or avant-jazz. Sometimes they mix in a little rock, but usually it's just in the backbeat.

Here's some artists and bands I feel have pushed jazz in the 21st century (that I've heard):

Medeski Martin & Wood
John Scofield
Pat Metheny
Hiromi

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Amilisom Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Sep 2012 at 9:59pm
Originally posted by darkshade darkshade wrote:

I like Ken Burns "JAZZ" documentary except for that last episode. Besides the fact that they try to cram 40+ years of jazz history in one episode, the producers are very biased on their views of jazz, at least post-67 jazz. The documentary makes it seem like jazz died when Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington died.
Wynton Marsalis' opinions are a big part of it too. He talks about how jazz is supposed to be, talking about the swing era, bop, and so on, and how these musicians were taking jazz to the next level. Yet when you get to the last episode, he and most others in the program dismiss jazz fusion altogether, and don't even mention any fusion bands from the 70s and 80s, except Miles, but even his music from that period is downplayed as too "busy". Same thing with most of the avant-garde jazz that was going on in the 60s and 70s. Then he talks about these modern musicians, and while some are great and ARE pushing boundaries, like Christian McBride; most of the others he mentions (and even his own performance included) is very much recreating past glories, and just sounds like post-bop.
The documentary should have extended itself by a few episodes, and not been so biased against certain styles and musicians (honestly, they talk about Satchmo, Duke, Miles, Trane, Bird, and Dizzy the most throughout the series, great as those artists are of course).
Anyway, as far as jazz in the last 10 years or so, I mean, it's hard. There's a lot out there, it's hard to keep up. I guarantee no one on this site has anywhere near similar collections of jazz from 2000-2012. I know strides have been made in the world of jazz-rock/fusion (though even within that there are just recreating he past)--but as far as other styles, most of what I've heard has been done before, and all these musicians I hear are just playing post-bop, hard bop, or avant-jazz. Sometimes they mix in a little rock, but usually it's just in the backbeat.
Here's some artists and bands I feel have pushed jazz in the 21st century (that I've heard):
Medeski Martin & Wood
John Scofield
Pat Metheny
Hiromi


Many people I talk to about this bring up Pat Metheny, and I've often considered him myself. I have heard Hiromi a couple of times but I can't say I'm familiar with John Scofield or Medeski Martin & Wood. I'll have to look into that.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MilesBeyond Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Oct 2012 at 11:24pm
Ken Burns is notorious for his bias towards oldschool jazz (he spends, what, half that documentary on the 30s?). I wouldn't take anything his documentary says about the more recent stuff seriously. 
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